Greenwich High wrestlers take the bronze at FCIACs

Written by Paul Silverfarb
Thursday, 16 February 2012 03:25

Greenwich High School wrestling head coach George Albano wasn’t sure what to make out of his team at the beginning of the season.

Last year, Big Red went into the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference tournament with a senior-rich team, had 10 medalists, three finalists and finished an impressive second place overall.

Although a year later and quite a bit younger, the Cardinals are still just as successful, grabbing eight medals, qualifying to grapplers to the FCIAC championship match and finishing this year’s FCIAC championship meet third overall.

“I am very happy,” Albano said. “Last year we had a senior team and had 10 medalists and finished second. We lost seven of those 10 medalists to graduation, but we still had eight medalist this year and that was amazing. This year was more rewarding because no one knew what to expect this year. Last year we were building for three years. A lot of those seniors last year were in the lineup as sophomores and we kind of knew something special was going to happen.

“This year in the middle of the season, we were staring at a 5-5 season and weren’t sure which direction we were going to go in,” Albano added. “To finish 14-8 with a top three finish at FCIACs was unbelievable. It showed all the hard work the kids put in all year.”

Big Red ended the FCIACs third overall with 136.5 points, barely edging out Trumbull, who finished fourth with 136 points. Danbury High won the event with 330 points, while Fairfield Warde took second with 193.5 points. Fairfield Ludlowe rounded out the top five with 113.5 points.

“I had top five in mind because Trumbull, Warde and Danbury have been top 10 teams the entire year and Ludlowe is very strong as well,” Albano said. “For us to compete with those team was outstanding and it’s great for the program because it legitimizes us as a program. We had good teams here and there, but to have back-to-back top three FCIAC finishes, and to do it with a young team this year, is outstanding.”

Greenwich was paced by Cameron Driscoll in the 145-pound weight class. In the opening round of Saturday’s matches, No. 4 seeded Driscoll made quick work of New Canaan’s Kenny Philipson, winning 15-0. Against top-seeded Mauricio Xocoy, Driscoll was just as strong, winning 13-2 to advance to the championship match against Danbury’s Anthony Cote. In that match, Driscoll patiently worked his opponent and came away with the 9-5 victory.

“I was so happy for him,” Albano said. “He was a four-seed, but we knew he was one of the best kids in the bracket. He was wrestling so much better the second half of the year and was eliminating some of those mistakes. He’s been here before and knows what the tournament is like. We thought he was better than the No. 1 seed and beat him 13-2. At that point we were thrilled he was just in the finals, but he wrestled tremendously in the finals. He’s more confident and is understanding how to wrestle with the lead. He also relied on his experience and wrestled smart for six minutes.”

Greenwich’s other wrestler that made it to the FCIAC finals was Ryan Whittle in the 170-pound weight class. Entering as the top seed in the bracket, Whittle pinned Norwalk’s Nery Ceron at the 1:41 mark of the match to start his Saturday. Against Darien’s John Forlivio in the semifinals, Whittle used his aggressive style and came away with the 10-6 decision. However in the championship match against Stamford’s Miguel Nieto, Whittle came up on the losing side of a 6-4 score.

“It was 4-4 in the third period and It was a tough match,” Albano said. “We knew he was good and only had two losses during the year. He wrestled a good match, as did Ryan. He gave it a great effort. To be an FCIAC finalist from where he was his freshman year is special. I was so proud of him, even though he didn’t come out with the win.”

Greenwich was successful during the tournament because of its ability to dominate the wrestlebacks. Coming out of wrestlebacks victorious was Matt Diddel in the 152-pound weight class and Graham Perry in the heavyweight division, while Alex Jarombek (113) and Brian Cronin (182) finished fourth on the day.

“We talked to the kids after the semifinals and it was all about bouncing back and not thinking about that loss,” Albano said. “They needed to refocus on their goals. Alex Jarombek was a semifinal loser, won the consolation semis and got to the third place match. Diddel and Graham were semifinal losers, wrestled back and got third. They all bounced back, put their loss behind them and wrestled hard.”

Diddel started Saturday as the No. 4 seed and beat New Canaan’s Jonathan Simmons via pinfall 48 seconds into his match. Against Ludlowe’s Alex Sullivan it was the same result, as Diddel won via pinfall at the 1:03 mark. In the semifinal match, Diddel fell to Warde top seed Kevin Kollar 7-0, however he came back strong in wrestlebacks, pinning Central’s Craig Jones at the 2:39 mark and then scoring a 8-2 decision against Brien McMahon’s Jamie Restivo.

For Perry, he also started out Saturday as the No. 4 seed and recorded two pinfalls in his first two matches, beating McMahon’s Ty Guarente at the 1:53 mark and New Canaan’s Brian Killinger at the 1:01 mark. In the semis, Perry fell to Warde top seed Mike Money, but came back in wrestlebacks to beat Ludlowe’s Mike Pirrie with a pin at the 2:11 mark and then beat Killinger for the second time for the third place finish.

Jarombek was seeded fifth at the start of Saturday and opened the championship round by beating Norwalk’s R. Lewis-Zimmerman via pinfall at the 1:22 mark. Against No. 4 seeded Jose Marroquin of Stamford, Jarombek came away with the 6-4 decision. Although he fell to New Canaan’s Kevin Hall in the semis, Jarombek stormed back and beat Warde’s Dan Ebert 6-2, but lost to No. 2 seed Eric Kirchgasser in a nail-biter, 3-2.

In the 182 pound weight class, Brian Cronin took the long road, but came away fourth overall in his division. The No. 6 seed Cronin fell in his first match of the day, but dominated wrestlebacks. He pinned Harding’s Deamejon Smith at the 4:05 mark and advanced by netting an 8-4 decision over top seed Dylan Lemming of New Canaan. However, McMahon’s Ryan Silverman came away with the pinfall victory in the third place match to end Cronin’s run.

Other Greenwich athletes that medaled were Mickey Russel in the 99-pound weight class, as he finished fifth overall. Not to be outdone was Grant Cucchisi in the 195-pound weight class, finishing sixth overall on the day.

“Danbury had 11 finalists and walked away with nine titles,” Albano said. “Warde finished runner-up and didn’t have a champion. I thought it was special that we had two finalists and one champion at the end of the day. This doesn’t happen unless all eight of those individuals that medaled were focused and doing their best and that’s exactly what happened.”

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